Hi Bill, Pieces
of Africa is a good album. However, Hamza El Din 1971 album Escalay
(The Water Wheel) exquisitely played on an oud is really, really
special. Do you have that CD? MikeBob Shingleton comments:Bill, yes - Escalay is a very fine album and so is Eclipse - they are both in constant rotation on my iPod. As is the equally rewarding but less well known Lily of the Nile - http://www.overgrownpath.com/2013/08/do-we-need-to-broaden-our-definition-of.html

It
is the text of a programme essay I was commissioned to write for this year's Salzburg Summer Festival to accompany a pioneering performance of
Sufi chants by an Egyptian brotherhood. Hamza El Din and Escalay receive a mention in the essay.

You will have seen from my post that I was in the Nubian homelands last year, and I will be back in Upper Egypt in a few weeks. It gives me great pleasure that your mention of Hamza El Din has generated interest among AfriClassical readers. Keep up the great work!